Ibudone News

TUESDAY, Sept. 26, 2017 – The U. S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has launched a campaign to reduce overdose deaths from prescription opioid painkillers. Between 1999 and 2015, more than 183,000 people in the United States died from prescription opioid overdoses such as OxyContin (oxycodone) and Vicodin (hydrocodone). The goal of the CDC's Rx Awareness campaign is to increase knowledge of the risks of prescription opioids and stop inappropriate use. Personal accounts from recovering opioid abusers and people who've lost loved ones will be featured. "It only takes a little to lose a lot" is the campaign tagline. It will be featured in videos, audio ads, social media ads, internet banners, web graphics, billboards and posters. Campaign ads are planned to run for the next 14 weeks in Kentucky, Massachusetts, New Mexico and Ohio. The campaign will expand to other states as ... Read more

TUESDAY, Sept. 26, 2017 – Emergency room doctors write lower-dose, shorter-term prescriptions for opioids than other doctors do, new research shows. The study, led by scientists at the Mayo Clinic, challenges views that emergency departments are the main source of prescriptions for the powerful painkillers whose use – and misuse – has soared in recent years. The research also suggests that patients who get an opioid prescription – such as for oxycodone (OxyContin) – during an ER visit are less likely to abuse the drugs over the long term. "There are a few things that many people assume about opioids, and one is that, in the emergency department, they give them out like candy," said the study's lead author, Molly Jeffery. She is scientific director of the Mayo Clinic division of emergency medicine research, in Rochester, Minn. "This idea didn't really fit with the clinical ... Read more

September 25, 2017 – The U.S. Food and Drug Administration, in partnership with international regulatory and law enforcement agencies, recently took action against more than 500 websites that illegally sell potentially dangerous, unapproved versions of prescription medicines, including opioids, antibiotics and injectable epinephrine products to American consumers. These actions were part of a major global operation that the FDA participated in to target illegal drugs being marketed online, and shipped and distributed through the postal system, directly to American consumers. Among other actions, the FDA also issued warning letters to the operators of a majority of the illegal websites that were targeted in the operation and worked with internet registrars to confiscate certain websites. Patients who buy prescription medicines from illegal online pharmacies may be putting their health ... Read more

THURSDAY, Sept. 21, 2017 – Kidney dialysis patients in the United States have high rates of prescriptions for opioid painkillers and many also receive high doses of the potentially addictive drugs, a new study finds. Pain is common in dialysis patients, the study authors explained in a news release from the American Society of Nephrology. But these patients can't take certain drugs because their failing kidneys can't process them. This makes pain control difficult. For the new study, researchers reviewed Medicare data from 2006 through 2010. The investigators found that nearly two-thirds of dialysis patients received at least one opioid prescription every year. More than 20 percent received repeated prescriptions. In addition, more than 25 percent of patients given opioid prescriptions received higher-than-recommended doses. The use of opioids was associated with increased risks of ... Read more

TUESDAY, Sept. 19, 2017 – Rising death rates from opioid abuse are chipping away at Americans' life expectancy, a U.S. government study finds. Between 2000 and 2015, researchers found, U.S. life expectancy increased overall – from nearly 77 years to 79 years. But buried within that broad pattern were some ominous trends. The death rate from drug overdoses more than doubled, while that from opioids, specifically, more than tripled, said lead researcher Dr. Deborah Dowell. She is with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's division of unintentional injury prevention. By 2015, drug-related deaths had shaved 3.5 months off of Americans' life expectancy, Dowell's team found. And whites were the hardest hit. Most of that lost life span was pinned on opioids, including heroin and prescription painkillers like OxyContin (oxycodone), Vicodin (hydrocodone) and codeine. Earlier ... Read more

MONDAY, Sept. 18, 2017 – There has been a large increase in the number of young hospital patients in the United States who suffer harmful side effects from opioid painkillers, a new study says. The findings show an urgent need for safer pain medications for young patients, the researchers said. The researchers reviewed federal government data on hospital stays by children from 1 month to 17 years old. The data revealed the rate of opioid-related problems among these young hospital patients rose by more than 50 percent over nine years. The overall rate of opioid-related side effects during the study period was almost 17 per 10,000 discharges, the study found. Rates were highest among white children. That finding suggests that race may be a factor in which children are prescribed opioids to treat pain, the researchers said. Opioid-related problems included: opioid withdrawal (3 percent), ... Read more

FRIDAY, Sept. 15, 2017 – Teens and young adults who have surgery may be at increased risk for opioid painkiller abuse, a new study indicates. Opioids such as oxycodone (OxyContin) and hydrocodone (Vicodin) are commonly prescribed for pain after surgery. "And until recently, it was generally believed they were not addictive," said study lead author Dr. Calista Harbaugh. She's a general surgery resident at the University of Michigan Medical School. "The study is an important step toward recognizing that the [U.S.] opioid epidemic is affecting adolescents and young adults in a major way," Harbaugh said in an American Academy of Pediatrics news release. For the study, researchers analyzed data from nearly 90,000 privately insured U.S. patients aged 13 to 21 (average age 17) who underwent one of 13 common surgeries in this age group. The patients had no history of opioid painkiller ... Read more

FRIDAY, Sept. 15, 2017 – A growing number of children and teens are turning up in U.S. emergency departments dependent on opioids – including prescription painkillers and heroin, a new study finds. Researchers found that in 2013, nearly 50,000 ER patients aged 21 and younger were diagnosed with opioid dependence or addiction. That was up from just over 32,200 in 2008. By that final year, roughly 135 kids were testing positive for opioid dependence each day in the nation's emergency departments, the researchers said. Child health experts said the findings offer the latest glimpse into the national opioid epidemic – and, specifically, its impact on kids. "This is not just a problem for adults," said lead researcher Dr. Veerajalandhar Allareddy, medical director of the pediatric intensive care unit at Stead Family Children's Hospital, in Iowa City. "Kids are also at risk of opioid ... Read more

WEDNESDAY, Sept. 13, 2017 – Proper disposal of prescription painkillers and use of safe alternatives to manage pain could help combat America's opioid abuse epidemic, doctors say. "Today, we are in the midst of an opioid crisis," said Dr. David Ring, chairman of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons' (AAOS) Committee on Patient Safety. In 2015, about 12.5 million Americans misused prescription opioids (such as OxyContin and Vicodin) and more than 15,000 overdose deaths were attributed to the drugs, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. "Orthopaedic surgeons, along with other physicians and health care professionals, are working diligently and collectively to reduce the strength and number of opioid pills prescribed for patients, and to change the patient-doctor conversation regarding pain: how pain can be safely managed with non-opioid medications, ... Read more

THURSDAY, Aug. 31, 2017 – Fentanyl, a synthetic narcotic, is a key player in America's continuing epidemic of opioid-related overdose deaths, two new studies report. Opioid OD deaths began increasing early this decade as people addicted to prescription painkillers started switching to heroin, which became cheaper and increased in supply, researchers from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said. But the emergence of fentanyl and its cousins drove an even greater increase in overdose deaths, exacerbating an already terrible situation, the researchers said. In 2015 alone, about 33,000 people died of an opioid overdose in the United States. When drug traffickers began mixing fentanyl into the heroin supply, they created a highly potent narcotic cocktail that has proven fatal to thousands of drug users, investigators noted. "Approximately half of the increase in deaths ... Read more

WEDNESDAY, Aug. 30, 2017 – Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) such as ibuprofen may raise blood pressure in patients with arthritis, a new study suggests. "The current findings suggest that the elevated cardiovascular risk with NSAIDs may be partly due to drug-specific increases in blood pressure," said principal investigator Dr. Frank Ruschitzka. He is co-head of the department of cardiology at the University Heart Centre in Zurich. "Patients with osteoarthritis and arthritis should continue to consult their doctor before taking NSAIDs... and clinicians need to weigh the potential hazards of worsening blood pressure control when considering the use of these agents," Ruschitzka added in a European Society of Cardiology news release. NSAIDs are among the most widely used drugs in the world, with almost 19 percent of Americans routinely using at least one NSAID. Warnings on ... Read more

FRIDAY, Aug. 25, 2017 – Too many people with migraines are prescribed potentially addictive opiate painkillers, while too few may be getting recommended medications, a new study suggests. Researchers found that of nearly 2,900 Americans who visited the doctor for migraine relief, 15 percent were prescribed opioids such as oxycodone (OxyContin or Percocet) or hydrocodone (Norco, Vicoprofen). That's despite the fact that the drugs should really be used only as a "last resort," said study lead researcher Dr. Larry Charleston IV. Opioids are not only less effective than recommended migraine drugs, they're also risky, said Charleston, an assistant professor of neurology at the University of Michigan Medical School. Repeated opioid use, he explained, can actually lead to more frequent, or even chronic, migraines. And by now, it's no secret that the drugs have the potential for abuse and ... Read more

TUESDAY, Aug. 22, 2017 – A short-term painkiller prescription is less likely to lead to opioid use disorder than a longer supply of pain pills, a new study suggests. "Compared to someone prescribed two days versus seven days, that person with a seven-day supply is twice as likely to be using opioids in the long term," said study senior author Bradley Martin. After looking at a decade's worth of medical records, Martin and his team concluded that "the days supplied is far more important than the dosage level or even the type of pain being treated." The United States is in the midst of an opioid overdose epidemic. Powerful narcotic painkillers such as OxyContin (oxycodone), Vicodin (hydrocodone) and morphine killed more than 33,000 people in 2015, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Martin, a pharmacist at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, and ... Read more

TUESDAY, Aug. 22, 2017 – After treatment for an opioid overdose, many Medicaid patients continue to receive prescriptions for the same type of drugs that nearly killed them, researchers say. Moreover, few overdose patients are prescribed anti-addiction medications after hospital discharge, the University of Pittsburgh investigators found. The researchers studied more than 6,000 people who survived an overdose from an opioid – a class of drugs including painkillers like morphine and OxyContin (oxycodone), synthetic opioids such as fentanyl, and heroin. "Forty percent of those with a heroin overdose and 60 percent of those with a prescription opioid overdose filled a prescription in the six months after overdose for the very kind of medication that contributed to the overdose in the first place," said lead researcher Julie Donohue. She's an associate professor of health policy and ... Read more

MONDAY, Aug. 21, 2017 – Hernia surgery patients may require far fewer opioid painkillers than they're prescribed, new research suggests. The study included 186 adult patients who had elective inguinal ("groin") hernia repair surgery under local anesthesia with intravenous sedation. Each patient received a prescription for 10 tablets of the opioid painkiller Vicodin (hydrocodone/acetaminophen) to ease their post-surgery pain. But they were also encouraged to use non-opioid medications such as acetaminophen (Tylenol) or ibuprofen (Advil, Motrin) to manage their pain whenever possible. The researchers found that 86 percent of the patients used less than half of their prescribed Vicodin. Almost two-thirds used no Vicodin at all, relying totally on non-opioid pain medications. "The implication of our study is that, even though surgeons have been careful to limit the number of opioid tablets ... Read more